Village council won’t continue live streaming meetings

Alex Kurial/Local Journalism Initiative

Oil Springs Mayor Ian Veen says if people want to know what’s going on at council, they can show up to in person meetings.

“You want to know what’s going on in town, come on out,” says Veen.

The discussion was prompted by Councillor Connie McFadden, who suggested the village should explore streaming sessions online even though they’d returned to in person meetings. She says residents have been talking with her about council business after watching at home. New audio visual equipment in the council chambers is capable of live streaming the meetings.

But there wasn’t much enthusiasm for the idea.

“The only reason they’re doing it now is because they’ve got nothing else to do and want to watch it on TV… Some people just want to be nosy,” says Veen.

“It’s better to have them come out than to just sit at home and watch and critique us on TV,” says the mayor.

Councillor Larry Wagner agrees. “Before all the COVID stuff, how many people used to come to a meeting anyway?” he asks. “We never had anybody come before unless they wanted something.”

Wagner says anybody who is curious “can read it all next month in the minutes.”
Veen says if the trend of rising COVID-19 cases continues, “We’ll be back to Zoom anyway.”